“But she’ll tell them what she heard!” Tauno protested. “She’ll tell them you poisoned Kolfinn.”
“She won’t get the chance. She just said she was with her father. I’ll tell the guards that we saw her come out of his room with something in her hand. We were suspicious, so we followed her and asked what it was. She refused to show it to us. She tried to put it in her satchel, but dropped it instead. I grabbed it and knew immediately that it was poison.”
“No!” Astrid shouted, trying to shake Tauno off.
Rylka smiled her cold killer’s smile. “I’ll have to admit I was wrong. How I hate that,” she said. “It wasn’t a Miromaran assassin who poisoned Kolfinn. It was his own daughter. She fed him the Medusa venom weeks ago, but didn’t give him enough to kill him. So tonight she tried to finish the job.”
Rylka picked up the vial. As she started down the hall, bellowing for Kolfinn’s guards, Astrid once again tried to break free.
“Stop it or I’ll break your arms,” Tauno threatened.
Astrid knew she had to escape. She had to get to her father. If Rylka succeeded with her lie, the guards would lock Astrid up. And then Rylka would be free to administer the fatal dose. But Tauno’s grip was brutal. Astrid felt like she was caught in a polar bear’s jaws.
A polar bear.
Astrid heard her father’s voice in her head. She was a child again and he was soothing her after he’d rescued her from the mother bear.
If a bear ever gets hold of you, don’t struggle, Astrid. Go limp in its jaws. Make it think you’re dead. It’ll stop shaking you and relax its grip. When it does, you’ve got a weapon: surprise. Use it.
If surprise works on a polar bear, it’ll work on Tauno, Astrid thought. He’s ten times stupider.
Astrid went limp. She hung her head and pretended to cry. Tauno, used to bullying mer into submission, must’ve figured she’d given up. He relaxed his grip.
An instant later, using Tauno’s arms for leverage, Astrid pushed off the floor with her strong tail, flipped up and over in the water, and brought her tail fins crashing down on his head.
Tauno gave a surprised grunt of pain. He let go of her. Astrid shot off down the hallway.
He bellowed for Rylka. After a few seconds, she rejoined him and they both chased after Astrid. Within moments, they’d gained on her.
“Tackle her, Tauno, and make sure she doesn’t get up again!” Rylka shouted.
Astrid put on a desperate burst of speed. Up ahead, only about ten yards away, the hallway split into three. The center part continued on to her family’s apartments. The tunnel to the left led to the Hall of Justice, and the one on the right led to the dungeons. Two soldiers were stationed at the fork.
“Guards! Stop her!” Rylka shouted. “She tried to murder the admiral! Stop her!”
The guards snapped into action. They blocked the center passage, obviously thinking Astrid would make for home. She knew she had only one chance to evade capture. She feinted left. Both guards moved to intercept her. A split second later, she swerved sharply to the right and swam down the passageway to the dungeons, her black-and-white tail a blur in the water. Astrid, fit and swift from her trip to the River Olt, spiraled through the hallway at a dizzying speed, putting distance between herself and her pursuers.
Her heart was pounding. Her muscles were straining. Her lungs were working to pull water in and push it out again, giving her the oxygen she needed to keep moving.
She didn’t know what she would do when she got to the dungeons. All she knew was that she was swimming.
For her life.
And her father’s.
THE PASSAGEWAY to Ondalina’s dungeons plunged deep into the base of the Citadel.
The waters grew colder. The ice became dark and opaque. There were few lava globes to light Astrid’s way; they were too costly to be squandered on prisoners.
Astrid hoped to lose her pursuers in the dungeons’ mazelike tunnels. She and Ragnar used to swim down here on dares when they were little. They never got farther than the gate—the guard wouldn’t let them through it. She’d looked through the bars, though, and knew that the single passageway split just beyond them. She’d been told that countless smaller corridors—all lined with cells—snaked off the main passageways and there was an exit at the other end of the dungeons. With any luck, she could reach it before Rylka and Tauno caught up to her.
But first she had to get past the guard.
She saw him now as she rounded a curve. He was sitting in a small office to the left of the gate, listening to a conch. He rose at Astrid’s approach and swam out to meet her.
Astrid said the first thing that popped into her frantic mind. “I’m here to inspect the dungeons. On my father’s—Admiral Kolfinn’s—orders. I’ve just come from his bedside. Rumors of a breakout are circling through the Citadel. One of the prisoners has threatened the admiral’s life.”